Ysios Capital, a European life sciences venture capital firm, member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, announced the promotions of Jordi Xiol to Partner and Salvatore Scaffidi to Associate, as well as the appointment of Joan Perelló as Venture Partner.

L’Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Córdobaacull l’esdeveniment anual d’ITEMAS, impulsat per l’Instituto de Salud CarlosIII (ISCIII), amb el patrocini de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, CidiSalud i GENESIS Biomed, membres de CataloniaBio & HealthTech.

In the study by Segú-Vergés et al, 2022 recently published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, Anaxomics have applied systems biology and artificial intelligence techniques to evaluate the mechanisms of response to treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) by evaluating the pathophysiological pathways of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that show different clinical responses to this treatment. This project has been carried out thanks to the collaboration between Grifols, Anaxomics Biotech and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale.

Onalabs Inno-Hub, a biotech startup dedicated to the development of non-invasive medical and sports devices for monitoring biochemical parameters, has hired Rat Gasol as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Vytrus Biotech, the company specialized in activeingredients derived from plant stem cells for the cosmetic industry, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has achieved the approval of its first patent in Europe, United States andJapan.

The call for the ninth edition of the Bioèxit Award of the year, promoted by CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has opened today. The initiative will recognise the best business milestone of 2022 in the health and life sciences sector in Catalonia. The deadline for submitting candidacies is 9 February, using this form.

Onalabs Inno-Hub, the biotech start-up that transforms the skin into a data platform, has taken a further step in its growth and internationalisation with the creation of the Andorran subsidiary Onalabs-AD Digital Health. Through it, and thanks to the support of Andorra Research and Innovation (ARI), it will immediately start two pilot programme, aimed at the areas of sport and health.

The company, a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, spin-off of IRB Barcelona, the UB and SJD has a patented technology based on peptides that efficiently cross biological barriers, such as the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain. As if they were molecular shuttles, these peptides can carry drugs that unaided cannot reach the brain to cure it. The first indication that will benefit from the technology is in the field of pediatric brain tumors.

L’Agència Espanyola de Medicaments i Productes Sanitaris (AEMPS) ha aprovat l’assaig clínic CARxALL liderat per l’empresa, membre de CataloniaBio & HealthTech, OneChain Immunotherapeutics (OCI). Es tracta d’un assaig clínic únic al món amb tecnologia CAR-T per a pacients amb un subtipus de leucèmia de cèl·lules T.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a spin-off company of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) (partner of the Graphene Flagship) and ICREA announced that it has been selected for an EIC Accelerator award of up to 17.5 million Euros. The company, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, at the intersection between Medtech, DeepTech and Digital Health, aims to develop medical solutions based on graphene technology for application in patients with neural-related disorders.

Inbiomotion SL, member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, a company developing a unique single-gene-based biomarker for the personalized adjuvant treatment of early-stage (stage I-III) breast cancer patients, announced the appointment of Ralf van den Berg as Chief Operating Officer.

GENESIS Biomed, a consultancy firm located at the Barcelona Science Park that specialises in early-stage entrepreneurial R&D projects in the biomedical sector, expects to close out this year with record turnover of €1.6 million, up 28% from the €1.25 million in 2021, for a cumulative revenue of over €5.6 million since it was established.

REIG JOFRE, pharmaceutical company listed on the Spanish stock exchange, has completed the co-development of TriFerty-ATM^®, as a result of the collaboration between the research and innovation teams of REIG JOFRE and the Barcelona Center for Male Infertility and Analysis (CIMAB).

Oxolife, the Women’s Reproductive Health R&D biotech, has been awarded with a 2.4M€ grant from the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry (PlanEstatal de Investigación Científica) to develop a new treatment for infertility related to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Oxolife, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, in collaboration with Cordoba’s University, plans to progress in the next 2 years from preclinical stages to a phase II clinical trial in PCOS patients.

The startup Pharmacelera, a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, will open a branch in the United States in early 2023 with the help of an investor from Silicon Valley. Its goal is to focus on this market as a strategic area to multiply its sales by 5 in the next 3 years.

The QLattice^® discovery engine developed by Abzu^® has accelerated scientific exploration and understanding again, this time for Peptomyc^®, a biotech focused on inhibiting the cancer-causing protein Myc. Both companies are CataloniaBio & HealthTech members.

Exheus, company specialising in RNA analysis, a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has secured a 900,000 euro funding round. The investment will help it to start its international expansion.

If the Lessons Learned sessions are a forum for exchanging experiences and thoughts, the one on 22 November was one of the clearest examples at the Parc Científic de Barcelona. It focused on sharing experiences around auditing processes for medical devices. Medical device audits can be a headache for medical device developers and manufacturers, so it is key to know exactly what the audit requirements are for international markets, who will enforce them, when and how. A medical device audit is a systematic and documented process, can be performed both announced and unannounced by notified bodies and government agencies, but must also be implemented internally as part of the company's ongoing regulatory obligations.

Perdigó, a design and engineering house for medical products, equipment, and technology, and a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, announced it is sponsoring this year’s Drug Delivery to the Lungs (DDL2022) conference being held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 7th to 9th December 2022.

The presence of metastases is the leading cause of cancer-related death. Despite advances in targeted cancer therapies, blocking the formation of metastases is still an unmet therapeutic need. A study led by the biotech company BCN Peptides and the Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), both CataloniaBio & HealthTech members, has demonstrated the efficacy of a new drug, the synthetic peptide RA08, to reduce the formation of metastases in childhood and breast cancer. The work has been published in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences.